Vader's Folly
by The Sithspawn
Summary: An ancient site filled with ancient technologies, of course Dr Aphra can't resist playing around. The result, one Sith Lord with a lot of options. NB: Title and summary may be revised at a later date.
1. Prologue

**Vader's Folly**

 **Author's notes:** Been reading a lot of Star Wars time travel fics and AU fics for the past couple of weeks. I blame them for this story. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about my other stories. They'll get updated eventually.

 **Summary:** An ancient site filled with ancient technologies, of course Dr Aphra can't resist playing around. The result, one Sith Lord with a lot of options. NB: Title and summary may be revised at a later date.

 _ **Prologue:**_

Her arms ached from where she was tied up on the Tuskens' strange triangular wooden frame. Her back ached from where they had beaten her. Her head throbbed from too little food and water.

Shmi Skywalker winced as she tried get into a more comfortable position, but the Tuskens were good at making their prisoners as uncomfortable as possible.

She didn't know how long she'd been here, a few days at least maybe more, already the days were starting to blur into one another.

They would come, feed her, beat her and then leave her alone for a while. Then they would start all over again.

She steeled herself, refusing to cry, to waste water on something useless. Deep down she knew this was a the end, she'd survived for for so long.

She'd been so lucky in her life. The Force had given her Anakin, even being a slave hadn't been that bad, Watto had been a better master than any slave could expect. Then the Jedi had come and freed Anakin. Then Cliegg. He'd freed her from Watto and their life together had almost been idyllic...at least by Tatooine standards.

Shmi held on to the happy memory, immersing herself in it. Together they'd been a family, she'd raised his son-her son now as well. Years had passed, life had been hard but they'd been happy.

...And then the Tusken Raiders had taken her and her world had come crashing down.

This was it. The end. No heroic rescue, no more chances at life.

Just the end.

 _It was a good life...but I wish I could have seen Ani, just one more time..._

She sighed, willing away the fantasy, it was never going to happen.

He was happy, he was away from Tatooine, probably a Jedi by now living a life she could only imagine.

A Tusken scream interrupted her melancholy thoughts. She shuddered wondering what evil act they were performing now.

More screams rang in her ears and suddenly she could hear blaster fire as well. An explosion deafened her for a moment and suddenly hope blossomed in her heart. Cliegg and the other Moisture farmers had come for her!

More and more screams came to her ears, and she realised something was wrong, she could hear the pain in the screams. More explosions sounded and she realised whoever was attacking wasn't Cliegg and the other Moisture farmers. Cliegg and the others only had blasters not explosives.

A rustling sound distracted her. She twisted her head towards the door of the tent. She watched as a shrouded figure stepped into the tent and took a look around, not paying any attention to the screams of the Tusken Raiders coming from outside.

Brown eyes met her own and the stranger's mouth twitched into an amused smirk, "I don't know who you are lady, but Lord Vader is really going all out to get you out of here."

The woman bent down and pulled out a knife from her boot. She approached Shmi and quickly cut her down from the wooden frame she was attached to.

Shmi's legs held out for a second before collapsing but the woman caught her and gently lowered her down to sit on the ground.

"Here," the woman held out a canteen.

With shaking hands, Shmi took and the canteen and drank deeply deeply. A coughing fit took her and she nearly dropped the canteen.

Strong hands steadied her hands and took the weight of the canteen, "Easy there, I guess you were here for a while then."

Shmi nodded shakily, "Days ago, I think, I lost count after the first few."

The woman nodded, "That sucks, Tuskens aren't good hosts, then?" she remarked sardonically.

Shmi started to laugh, but pain jolted her chest with the movement, and the laugh became a little whimper of pain.

"I'll take that as a no." The woman pulled an injector out of a pocket and injected Shmi. "This will help."

Relief flooded Shmi's body and she felt the pains of her body start to subside, "Thank you, yes." She took a deep painless breath and asked, "Who are you?"

The woman smiled a bid toothy grin, "I'm Dr Aphra, archeologist extreme, and activator of ancient technologies at your service," Aphra said an extravagant wave of her hand.

Shmi frowned and stared at Dr Aphra in confusion at the strange introduction.

The conversation stilled and silence descended. Minutes passed and Shmi frowned something was missing.

It took a minute for her weakened mind to realise what was missing.

The screams had stopped. Silence surrounded the tent.

No wait there was still some noise, she could hear it very slowly getting closer...it was a harsh vesicular breathing, almost like someone using a respirator.

But how and why, would someone on a respirator risk being out here in the middle of Tusken land? In the middle of the dry Tatooine desert?

The sound of the heavy stentorian breathing pulled her attention towards the door of the tent. She expected to see an emancipated small creature standing there being supported and instead a monstrous creature completely covered in black body armour stood there, heavy cape falling from his broad shoulders. His heavy stentorian breathing echoing in the confines of the small tent.

The creature stepped towards Shmi and she flinched back.

"The Tuskens are dead." boomed the towering monster in black, his tone oozing with arrogance. "You do not have to fear them anymore." The Black mask stared down at Shmi.

She looked in the eye plates of the mask, she imagined that she could see her fear reflected back at her in the eye plates. "What are you?" she asked in a whisper afraid of the answer and what was possibly in store for her.

The figure stepped back as if stuck and wavered were he stood. "I...am...here to _save_ you." he said in quiet almost quivering voice. "Aphra, bring her to the speeder now." he commanded, his voice once more booming. He turned and swept out of the tent without another word.

Shmi mind tried to process what was happening but illumination eluded her.

" _Fierfek!_ Who in the nine hells of Corellia are you? Did you see him _quiver_? Or hear the _waver_ in his voice?!" Dr Aphra demanded surprise, shock and disbelief written all over her face.

Shmi stared after the monstrous wraith in black, eyes wide with fear and confusion. "I'm Shmi...Shmi Skywalker."

Aphra blinked...then blinked again, she swore in Huttese then said, " _Skywalker? ...Skywalker!_ Now this makes even less sense!" she lamented. She shook herself and then put her arm under Shmi's shoulder, "Come on let's get you out of here. It's not good for one's health to keep Lord Vader waiting."

 _Lord Vader? Who is he?_ Thought Shmi.

Shmi then nodded and slowly managed to get her feet with Dr Aphra supporting her.

They walked slowly, cautiously out of the tent. Outside was scene from a nightmare. She found them standing amid the remains of the Tusken village. Tusken corpses littered the entire area, Shmi held back the meager contents of her stomach when she realised that many of the corpses were in _pieces_ , no longer actual bodies but now nothing more than pieces of meat.

Aphra urged her along and slowly they passed amid the carnage towards their destination.

A large speeder stood at the edge of the dead village, the black armoured creature- _Lord Vader?_ He stood there waiting with a dark silver Protocol droid with red optics and an astromech.

Shmi's mind was a confusing mix of thoughts about her monstrous Savior in black with one question at the forefront of her mind.

 _Why had he saved her?_

 **Author's Notes:** I hope this wets your appetite for this story. An explanation of how we got here will come in the coming chapters. As always, don't forget to review! :D


	2. Chapter 1

**Vader's Folly**

 **Author's notes:** Thanks for all the positive feedback, its helped me push this chapter forward. Hope you like it. As always, Read, Enjoy and Review! Never forget to review! :D BTW in terms of SW canon, I will be a using a mix of both the new and Legends canon.

 **Summary:** An ancient site filled with ancient technologies, of course Dr Aphra can't resist playing around. The result, one Sith Lord with a lot of options.

 _ **Chapter 1**_

 **Outer Rim, four years post the Battle of Yavin**

The world had no name. Or at least none that the Galactic Empire remembered. A primitive agrarian culture inhabited one of the other continents but the smallest continent was uninhabited.

Or at least it was now uninhabited, the remains of some long dead civilization was clustered in one small area. This was the only sign that once long ago the continent hadn't been uninhabited.

Darth Vader strode thought the ruins heading towards the center of the area, Dr Aphra was waiting for him there. Her message for him had been intriguing enough that he'd diverted the _Executor_ from Endor to come here first. She'd discovered some ancient weapon hidden and forgotten here.

He wondered what she had found? What kind of weapon was it? And more importantly, _could he use it against the Emperor?_

Things were coming to a head with the Rebel Alliance, the trap set on Endor would be sprung soon, and when that happened...he would have to deal with Luke.

His hard headed son would have to join him. There was no other option.

Vader wasn't fool enough not to see that Palpatine would replace him in a second with a younger more intact Sith Apprentice, just as he had done to Dooku.

He'd seen the look on Dooku's face when Palpatine had ordered him to kill him. In hindsight, the depth of the betrayal, as Dooku realised just how expendable he really was, was astounding, at least to normal folk. To Sith, this was the norm, and Vader always reminded himself of this. He would not fall into the same trap that Dooku had fallen into.

He neared the center of the ruins, and started to see signs of active restoration of the ruins. He could see droids re-purposed from his secret army walking about and going about jobs he couldn't identify.

One of the droids saw him and approached. It looked like an old Trade Federation B-1 battle droid, but like all the others here the resemblance was only skin deep. They were all updated to modern standards in all regards, but most importantly these B-1 lookalikes were _silent_. They spoke only when they were required to.

The droid saluted smoothly, "My Lord, Dr Aphra is this way sir." it said in its high reedy voice.

It waited at attention till Vader gave it a curt nod. It turned smoothly and marched forward, the Dark Lord following in tow.

More and more droids appeared as they approached the center of the ruins, they were going about restoring the buildings and doing other innumerable jobs that mattered not to Vader.

They eventually came to a large tower that looked to be at the center of entire settlement, they entered and inside even more droids were going about whatever business Aphra had set for them.

The droid led him to a repaired elevator that quickly took them to the top of the tower. They existed the elevator into a large hall with stacks of machinery spread across the vast space.

Vader couldn't see Aphra anywhere.

A dark silver protocol droid with glowing red optics approached them. "Ah welcome Lord Vader! It's always a pleasure to see you, we always get to terminate humanoids when you arrive!" welcomed the murderous Triple Zero. "We haven't terminated any organics since we reached this planet. And we have such a nice collection of primitives, a mere continent away."

"Cease your prattling, take me to Dr Aphra." he commanded irritably with a wave of his hand.

Triple Zero sighed, "Return to your duties." He said to the B-1 droid, "This way my Lord, she's expecting you."

A short distance away they found Aphra buried inside a console, with only her feet sticking out, hard at work, and cursing up a storm.

"Dr Aphra, report! What have you discovered here?" demanded Vader.

Her muffled voice answered him, "Can you come back later? I'm a little busy now."

"Well I never!" exclaimed Triple Zero. He reached out a hand "I'm sure a _little_ electrical shock will make her pay attention, my Lord."

"Enough. Perhaps you misunderstood me Dr Aphra," Vader said menacingly, he gestured with a hand, Force grabbing Aphra's body and quickly pulling her out of the console.

"Oooph..." Aphra said in surprise.

She rose into the air and was suspended there upside down at eye level with Lord Vader.

"Or now is good as well." she said meekly, mentally reviewing what she had done, "Please don't kill me."

He released his Force grip on Aphra and she fell to the floor with groan of pain.

"Really you couldn't have lowered me gently?" Aphra said with a groan.

Vader controlled his impulse to throttle the demented woman, "I will not ask again, what have you discovered?"

Aphra rose from the floor dusting herself off, "This place, this whole place somehow manipulates reality." she said simply.

Vader frowned behind his mask, "What does that mean?"

Aphra scratched her head and her forehead wrinkled in confusion, "I'm actually not sure yet, they were using a very obscure dialect of Old Corellian, I'm still having trouble deciphering it. But you're lucky I just finished wring this last bit, once I activate the computers I should have more data to correlate-then I can give you few specifics...I think."

She worked at the console, the entire thing lit up with a dim light. She continued working tapping away at keys.

Vader watched impatiently as Aphra worked at the console. After a short time the glow, grew stronger. A small rumble started to echo in Vader's ear.

"Ok now things are looking up now," commented Aphra as she continued to work.

"You have your answers now?" Vader demanded, the rumble slowly growing louder.

"Not in the slightest, just more questions." Aphra answered in mystification.

"What about the rumbling? Is this your doing?" The rumbling sound was peaking now and constant.

Aphra's head jerked towards Vader, " _What rumbling?!_ "

"Are you sure your auditory receptors are functioning correctly, my lord?" Triple Zero asked, his red optics gazing blankly at the Dark Lord.

Vader's head jerked between the two alarmed by their answers. He reached out with the Force just as the rumbling, in a sudden crescendo, reached a deafening peak.

Pain exploded all over his body as the Force exploded into turmoil. Power surged through every neuron of his body overloading all his senses.

He grit his teeth and rode the waves of pain, using it to fuel his connection to the Dark Side, trying to stave off and stay afloat amid the sudden changes in the Force, but the waves continued to intensify exponentially until he could no longer take it.

Vader roared in pain as darkness claimed him.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Consciousness returned slowly to Vader as the Force calmed and once more became placid. The storm that had developed, finally subsiding. Very slowly his overloaded senses began to return to normal. He was numb, blind and deaf, the Force had overloaded everything in him. Eventually, the numbness subsided, his hearing was the first to return to normal.

"...The Rebels may actually give you a medal for killing him, if that is any consolation," he heard Triple Zero say, in a by the way tone.

It took a moment for him to regain his bearings, he realised that he was lying flat out on his back on the ground. He continued to lie there unmoving taking stock of his surroundings, the Force wasn't silent and still roared, though in a much muted sense. His head was spinning with flashes of things too fast to see.

"What would I do with a medal? It's more fun working for him!" cried Aphra in annoyance. The conversation continued on above his head without him.

With an effort he lurched up, staggering to his feet, head still spinning.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Aphra asked.

"What did you do?" Vader demanded angrily, slowly regaining his equilibrium.

"What did I do? I just activated the console, it didn't do anything," retorted Aphra.

"Obviously it did." Vader fumed. "The Force is in turmoil. Find out what you did!"

Aphra frowned and shook her head, "Nothing has changed."

"Check again...now!"

Aphra turned to Triple Zero, "Status reports, all units, now!"

Triple Zero who had been quietly watching the two of them, "Of course, it will be just a minute." he stood still and communed silently using his internal comm unit to talk to the other droids at the excavation site.

He suddenly jerked and turned to Vader, "The _Executor_ has disappeared from orbit," pronounced Triple Zero in simple tones, belying the import of the words.

A chill settled in Vader's stomach. _Super Star Destroyers do not just disappear!_

"What do you mean _disappeared_?!" screeched Aphra, "Did the Rebel fleet show up her or something?"

"No mistress, according BT's long range sensors, it was there one moment and the next it was gone, it did not explode or jump to hyperspace."

The chill condensed into carbonite in Vader's innards. There were too many unknowns here. What had Aphra inadvertently done?

"What did you _do_?" Vader asked again, his voice deadly calm, as the Force finally settled down and became placid again.

"What me? Do? I didn't do a damn thing except turn on the console to get more info about the weapon. Liked you asked for," exhaled Aphra in exasperation.

"Find out what's happened then...now!" Vader commanded angrily, with the Force now returned to normal, his head had finally stopped spinning.

Aphra pursed her lips, flustered and disturbed, and stepped up to the console she had working on.

" _Carefully_ ," added Vader menacingly.

She winced and went about her work.

She worked diligently at the console for a few moments before freezing, "Oops..."

Vader crossed his arms across his broad chest, but didn't say anything. Behind his mask, he frowned as he felt shock and disbelief rolling off Aphra in waves.

"Wait...this can't be right..." he fingers flew across the keys on the console, "We need to get to my ship, I _need_ to verify this, because this is impossible."

"What have you done?" Vader demanded again, the tone of his voice offering dire consequences if she did not answer him properly this time.

She turned to face Vader, her face white with shock, "If this correct we've traveled...back in time."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Vader stared at the Holonet display in disbelief, unmoving and in shock, as he watched Padmé- _his Padmé,_ vibrant, powerful and very much alive, addressed the Republic Senate. The words didn't register in his mind, her strong voice causing an ache in his body, harkening back to old days long gone and buried in his battle scarred psyche.

Vader and Aphra stood inside the new, heavily modified and enhanced, _Ark Angel 3._ The first two iterations of the Ark Angel had been destroyed and this third one had been a gift from Vader for services rendered.

They stood now, in a special secured communication suite in the ship's belly, that also doubled as a small private study. Half the room was given over to the most advanced communication gear Aphra could get her hands on, while the other half had a workbench and comfortable chair. The bench with littered with various technological gadgets.

Padmé finished speaking and _Chancellor_ Palpatine appeared on the screen, his voice gracious and open.

"This _really_ isn't right," said Dr Aphra in very shocked voice, eyes wide with shock and face so pale she almost appeared to be an albino, "This is down right _impossible_ ".

Padmé's previous words finally registered in his fugue stated mind, and all of his thought processes came to a crashing halt.

She had been talking about the rising issue of separatism being championed by the former Jedi Master, Count Dooku, that was plaguing the Republic. If he remembered correctly, then this was several weeks before the assassination attempt on the landing platform, that had killed her loyal Handmaiden, Cordé.

Ideas, plans and previously unfeasible possibilities appeared in Vader's mind and the enormity of the situation they were in, finally registered.

"Leave me!" he boomed, "leave...now!".

Aphra gave him a look, but this time sensed that any banter might be extra hazardous to her health today.

Quickly she left the suite, leaving Vader alone with his suddenly awakened imagination.

There was chair with armrests behind Aphra's workbench, once he was alone, he numbly walked towards it and flopped into it.

He sat there for five minutes, one thought repeating in his mind. He was unable to think of anything else...and all the possibilities that stemmed from this thought.

 _She's alive. Padmé's alive._

He gripped the armrests with both arms, he did not realise how hard he was holding on, until they started to splinter in his hands.

He looked down at his hands in surprise, holding the splintered remains of the arm rests. The black gauntlets covering his prosthetic hands. He dropped the remains to the floor and stared at his hands. He opened and closed them as if he was seeing them for the first time. The pain of losing them on both occasions came roaring back at him. Geonosis and Mustafar. So much pain associated with those two places.

Suddenly old thoughts plagued his mind, so many old choices and actions. Each with horrific consequences unbeknownst to him till he was completely trapped. All leading up to where he had been. All leading to Palpatine. The formation of the Empire. To his ascension as Dark Lord of the Sith.

He'd been trapped for so long, he'd forgotten he'd been in a cage. Luke's appearance had shown him the bars again, but he'd still been trapped.

No choices. No options. Darkness and loss at each turn. More self-loathing with each turn.

Serve his master _or die_.

Deliver his son to his master _or die_.

Deliver his son to his master _and die_.

Deliver his son to his master and _watch Luke die_.

But now suddenly, the bars were gone. He was a free agent, an unknown element that nobody would or could see coming.

He could save Padmé, _change everything_.

He had to think this through, no impatience here, no rash moves. He had to be _subtle_.

For Padmé to live, Palpatine had to die.

 _ **Palpatine dies, Padmé lives.**_

Vader nodded slowly, he needed a plan. Most importantly he needed Palpatine off balance till he was ready to strike.

Vader grabbed a datapad off Aphra's workbench and started tapping away. The beginnings of a plan coming together.

He would not fail her this time.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Vader stared at the datapad, the beginning of a list in front of him:

Palpatine

Kinman Doriana

Sate Pestage

Armand Isard

Wilhuff Tarkin

Count Dooku

Zam Wesell

Jango Fett

Durge

Cad Bane

Darth Maul

Mother Talzin

General Grievous

Poggle the Lesser

Nute Gunray

Shu Mai

Wat Tambour

San Hill

Rush Clovis

Savage Oppress

Asajj Ventress

Most of these needed to die, some needed to die screaming, but not all. The bounty hunters could be bought, and could in fact prove to be valuable agents, with the exception of Durge. The insane Gen'Dai would not be dependable. But he needed credits for this, where to get the credits? Perhaps Aphra had some ideas about that.

He skipped ahead, choosing to come back to that point later.

He paused at Ventress's name and tapped it slowly. Could he co-opt her? She was very much in the same boat as him, used by both Palpatine and Dooku and then discarded. She could be a useful minion.

He smiled at the irony of possibly making Ventress, _his_ apprentice.

They would all have to be dealt with in one manner or another before he confronted Palpatine. But they were not his first concern. There was one event he could and _would_ change first.

He rose from behind the desk, he could feel Aphra sitting listlessly in the cockpit. He strode there quickly.

"Dr Aphra! Prepare your ship, we are leaving this world," he boomed.

"Yeah? And where are we going?" Aphra's brown eyes glinted with uncertainty. The reality and full implications of their impossible situation still not fully realised.

"Tatooine."

 **Author's Notes:** Vader's plan is coming together, lots of ripple in the making :);)As always, don't forget to review! :D


	3. Chapter 2

**Vader's Folly**

 **Author's notes:** Thanks for all the positive feedback! Hope you like it. As always, Read, Enjoy and Review! Never forget to review! :D BTW in terms of SW canon, I will be a using a mix of both the new and Legends canon.

 **Summary:** An ancient site filled with ancient technologies, of course Dr Aphra can't resist playing around. The result, one Sith Lord with a lot of options.

 **Chapter 2**

Vader guided the speeder over old familiar dunes, the yellow landscape passing by in a blur, he remembered the path, he remembered the pain that had wracked his body the last time he had come this way, back when he was still Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Padawan.

It wasn't that different this time, pain still wracked his body, not of loss this time but of sadness, almost despair. The last time he had been ferrying the corpse of his mother back to the farm she had called home.

This time she was alive, she wasn't well, but she would survive.

He should have been ecstatic, he had dreamed for decades of doing this, of undoing the past and yet...his mother was alive and the Sand People were dead! But he wasn't ecstatic, the heartfelt reunion he expected had been shattered when she recoiled at his mere presence. The fear he had seen in so many others, he had seen reflected in his mother's eyes.

She'd seen the monster in him, she couldn't know the monster was her son. She couldn't see the kind, caring innocent boy in the dark towering monster in black.

He growled silently, and used the dark thoughts to fuel his power, to strengthen and steel himself for what he knew would come.

For what he was planning.

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxox

As they approached the moisture farm. Aphra realised this was _that_ farm. The boy's farm. The boy that destroyed the Death Star. The destroyed farm.

"This mystery is going to kill me isn't it?" she muttered to herself.

As they drew up near to the main house, she watched as figures appeared out of the house. A young man and woman came out and behind them floated out an old man in a hover chair. All were in the simple drab worn tunics and pants of working moisture farmers.

The speeder came to a complete stop, "Help her out," commanded Vader.

"Sure, whatever you say." gingerly Aphra turned to a resting Shmi, "Come on, we've arrived," she told Shmi, gently shaking her awake.

Shmi opened her eyes, and blinked tiredly, "Where are we?" she managed to croak out.

"A moisture farm," Aphra simply stated.

Shmi perked up, brushing sleep from her eyes at this and started moving more swiftly despite her injuries and in short order they were hobbling along towards the main house.

The young man was the first to get a good look at them. He froze for a second, shock and joy appearing on his hard face, before he let out a bellow of joy and screamed, "MOM!"

He raced forward and in short order was at Shmi's other side helping to support her as they continued to move towards the main house. As he aided them across the sands, Aphra could hear them, chattering almost incoherent with joy.

And suddenly Aphra realised...the farm was Shmi's home.

A whole litany of of the most obscene swear words in ten languages echoed in Aphra's mind, the _farm_ was Shmi's home? The destroyed farm was Shmi's home? What in the name of the of the nine hells of Corellia was Vader playing at? How was this significant to his plans for Galactic domination?

The others reached them and the joyous chattering increased, Aphra tuned it out lost in the surprises Vader seemed to keep heaping on her. Shmi let go of the man and Aphra, stepping forward to collapse into the old man's lap, the hover chair dipped slightly but stayed afloat. They embraced and Shmi seemed to be trembling as she held on to the old man. They kissed and Aphra lost interest in the watching them further.

Her mind turned back to the mystery surrounding this place and Vader. _Why was it so important to the Dark Lord of the Sith?_ There were too many connections to the rebels, but there were _none_ to Vader...

So lost in her thoughts was she, that at first she didn't realise that they were talking to her now.

"What?" she asked.

It was the grizzled old man, he was the one talking to her, "Who are you? Why did you do this?" he asked his voice trembling with emotion as he held Shmi in his arms.

Aphra shrugged, "I was just doing what the boss ordered me to."

The man frowned, "I don't understand. I'm Cliegg Lars, this is my farm, I don't know why you helped Shmi, but you'll always be welcome here, because of this." he paused a second looking back at the speeder, spying a movement behind the dark windshield, "Your boss is in the speeder, right? Please, you're both welcome in our home. You saved Shmi, at least come rest for a while, I insist."

The image of her _and Vader_ spending time, and sitting with this very basic and simple family, just added to the incongruity of the situation, she snorted "Yeah the odds of this happening are..."

She stopped as she saw the family looking behind here. She turned and much to her surprise, saw Vader striding unhurriedly towards them.

He hesitated as he neared them, his steps faltering, but then his stride became more certain.

The joyous moment of reunion with Shmi paused as the family stared up at the Dark Lord in fear.

He reached them and the only sound between them was Vader's stentorian breathing.

"It would be impolite to refuse them," Vader said evenly after the moment had stretched out to minutes.

Cliegg stared up armoured being, unable to find his tongue.

"Then...come on in," Shmi said evenly steeling herself and reminding herself that they had saved her from the Sand People. If he had meant her harm he could have left her with the Sand People.

She stared up at the black emotionless mask without flinching this time.

Aphra stared between them, then shrugged, "What the hell, we've got time...I think."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Slowly, he rose from his bed, for the first time in a while he felt well rested. He'd slept soundly last night.

Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Padawan, sat on the edge of his bed and frowned, in confusion, but not unhappily. He'd dreamed of his mother again last night...but she hadn't been in pain, the pain was gone and she seemed happy, but...

But there had been a shadow around her, black and oily, menacing and corrupting, but...it had seemed to be _protecting_ her.

It didn't make sense, who and what would be protecting her? What was this darkness?

Maybe it had to do with whatever had the Council looking over its metaphorical shoulder?

They'd all felt it days ago, the sudden disturbance in the Force, something had happened

He shook his head, it was absurd, how could his mother be connected to a disturbance in the Force?

His comm starting buzzing, and he reached for it and answered it.

"Good you're awake, Anakin, the Council has a mission for us," came Obi-Wan's calm voice over the comm.

Anakin nodded glad to have a new mission to distract him, "Yes Master, where are we going now?"

"For now we're staying on Coruscant, after the recent assassination attempt on her, we'll be acting as bodyguards for Senator Amidala." Obi-Wan stated simply.

Anakin felt his heart speed up, and he smiled remembering happily his old friend, the young girl he had met on Tatooine, though his happiness was tempered by the reason they were meeting again-the danger she was in.

"I'll come immediately!" he answered immediately, jumping out of bed and heading to the refresher.

"Calm down my young padawan, we still have time enough for breakfast. Take your time to prepare and then meet me in the speeder bay." Obi-wan said with a chuckle.

Chagrined Anakin answered in a meek tone, "Yes master."

Obi-wan closed the link with another small chuckle and Anakin resumed his morning routine, thoughts of his mother and his dream replaced with thoughts of the beautiful girl he once knew and would know again.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The absurdity of it all was causing her cognitive dissonance.

Aphra was sat at a table in a moisture farm, with Darth Vader, sitting next her, the Lars family were in the other room leaving them momentarily alone, Owen was preparing a small meal for them while Beru and Cliegg were seeing to Shmi.

Aphra stole a glance at Vader, "So I have to ask, how are you going to eat through your mask?" she asked the Dark Lord.

Vader turned to stare at her.

"I mean, you're not going to take the mask off right? You can't without a hyperbaric chamber right?" she continued only slightly daunted by his stare.

Vader stared a moment before shrugging, "It is unimportant." he said but didn't elaborate.

"Ok then, how is all this going to help with whatever plan you're concocting? How are these farmers going to help us?" she asked.

"They are not. They are not relevant now. But this was...important," Vader admitted.

Aphra blinked, _what the hell? Important?_ "How in all the Hells of Corellia is this important? We still have several more pressing issues we have to deal with. Money being the first among them, you don't have even a fraction of the resources that you usually command! The Empire doesn't exist yet, you don't have the might of the Imperial Fleet to call on here." she reminded him.

"But this world is also home to Jabba the Hutt, that loathsome worm has all the money we could need, at least for now," Vader retorted simply.

Aphra blinked, "And when the Hutt Cartels retaliate for such a brazen attack?"

"Who will they retaliate against? No survivors and a few destroyed droids from our forces that will lead them to conclude that it was the Trade Federation, not us," Vader explained. "Or have you forgotten that our droids are merely updated versions of those that serve the Trade Federation?"

"You want to _frame_ the Trade Federation? You want to see it destroyed? Because that's what the Hutts will do. They'll go to war for this," Aphra said surprise.

"The Federation will burn and die," Vader replied nonchalantly.

Aphra ran this through her mind, along with everything else that had happened and what little Vader had let slip so far.

 _Nope. Nothing._ She thought to herself, _Everything's still as clear as mud._ She had another piece of the puzzle that was Vader's hidden plan and still nothing made sense.

"Signal Triple Zero, tell him to prep an assault force for our mission, We'll go, after we're finished here." Vader ordered.

Aphra silently reached for comm link and began giving orders to Triple Zero.

After that a contemplative Aphra sat back imaging the irony of what Vader was planning and how sweet it would feel to take from Jabba the Hutt and stick it to the Trade Federation. The Hutt Cartels would retaliate but in the wrong direction and it would cause chaos.

She smiled to herself at the sweetness of the plan. It was going to be fun. It didn't make any sense, but it would be amusing till she finally figured out Vader's plan.

Now, all that was left was to survive the coming meal without the surreality of it killing her.

Aphra sat back in her chair and stared at Vader's helmet, whatever was going inside of it...it was probably going to get her killed.

But at least it would be fun while it lasted.

 **Author's Notes:** Vader's plan is coming together, lots of ripples in the making :);)As always, don't forget to review! :D


	4. Chapter 3

**Vader's Folly**

 **Author's notes:** Thanks for all the positive feedback! Hope you like it. As always, Read, Enjoy and Review! Never forget to review! :D

 **Canon:** I will be a using a mix of both the Disney and Legends canon.

 **Summary:** An ancient site filled with ancient technologies, of course Dr Aphra can't resist playing around. The result, one Sith Lord with a lot of options.

 **Chapter 3**

The blazing twin suns of Tatooine burned the top of the Klatooinian Captain, Umpaza Z'lag's head, as the airspeeder convoy raced to Jabba the Hutt's palace. Z'lag and his men had been dealing with business in Mos Eisley when he'd revived the call, a minor disagreement with a local gang that had delusions of facing off against the might of Jabba the Hutt.

He and his men had dealt with them quickly and publicly for daring to defy the Hutt. It hadn't taken long and he and his men had planned to spend the rest of day just relaxing in the cantinas of Mos Eisley.

At least that had been the plan, several hours in he'd received a curt message from Barada of all people. One that had ended in an explosion and Barada's cut off scream. Z'lag had also heard the unmistakable sound of blaster fire in the background. A lot of blaster fire.

That had been enough and with an alacrity that he didn't know he possessed, he started rounding up all of Jabba's people that he could find, any thug or gun for hire that worked for the Hutt that he came across he pulled into his party.

That had been 5 hours ago.

Five agonizing hours since the distress call had come from Barada.

And every moment since he had failed to contact anyone that should have been in the palace.

Ten airspeeders filled with thugs and killers now neared the palace. Other Klatooinians, Niktos, Weequays and a smattering of other species. All his men. All hardened thugs, armed to the teeth and looking for trouble.

They came within sight of the palace, and Z'lag felt his spine stiffen with disbelief as he saw smoke rising from the palace, the dome of palace was cracked and part of it had collapsed in.

"Faster! We have to get there now!" he screamed at the pilot.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He sniffed the air, the scent of blood filled his nostrils.

It was a charnel house, the dead filled the halls, everywhere throughout the palace.

Whoever had been here and done this, they'd shown no mercy to anyone in the palace. Guards, visitors servants, slaves...even the strange brain spiders of the B'omarr monks, all had been slaughtered and left where they fell.

The Palace gates had been blasted open with high explosives, and apart from the bodies, there were no survivors.

The main hall had been filled with dead thugs and others he'd known

But there where no bodies indicating who the attackers were.

Nor was there any sign of their boss.

The sight of dead Hutt was not something easily missed.

He shook his head and motioned his men forward and down the twisting corridors that led to Jabba's personal apartments.

He rounded a corner and found himself staring into the flinty eyes of Ephant Mon...and the barrel of of large blaster rifle.

"Sir!" Z'lag practically collapsed in relief at seeing his boss. The Chevin was Jabba's head of security and would be in charge of this mess!

Ephant Mon lowered his rifle, "Z'lag, what happened here?"

"I don't know sir! I got a panicked comm call from Barada. I rounded up the boys and rushed here!" he blurted out.

Ephant Mon's long face remained impassive, "Barada's dead, saw what's left of him downstairs, the speeder pool's a mess. Barely managed to open the speeder doors to get in. Lots of Blast damage. Lots of explosives were used there."

"Same with the gate, blasted open," commented Z'lag

"What about Jabba?" Ephant Mon asked.

Z'lag shook his head, "No sign of the boss."

Ephant Mon grunted and motioned the men to the direction Jabba's apartments.

Z'lag nodded and took point. He picked his way through the bodies that littered the corridor and together they continued searching for any signs of Jabba.

Eventually as they neared the apartments they found Jabba's hoversled.

Blackened and baster scored, it was surrounded by dead guards. A slime trail led away from it and to the door of what remained of Jabba's personal apartments.

 _Remained_ being the operative and properly descriptive word to describe what was left there.

Z'lag had seen damage like this before. When he'd used a thermal detonator to bring down a rival gang's spice warehouse.

He looked to Ephant and recoiled. The normally impassive and quiet Chevin had rage written all over his long face.

"Go through _everything_! I want to know who did this!" screamed Ephant Mon.

Z'lag and his men rushed to obey.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

A makeshift command area was set up in front of the blasted out gates of the palace. Ephant Mon stood at the center of it all and supervised the search of the palace with Z'lag's help.

The search thought he rubble and the bodies continued.

A couple of hours later, one of the men dragged the remains of a droid to the command area and threw it down at Ephant Mon's feet.

The Chevin stared at it for a moment with nary a reaction at first, before his eyes darkened and his hands curled into fists, he started to shake with rage.

"It's a Trade Federation battle droid!"

Skirmishes between the Trade Federation and the Hutts happened from time to time, but never on this scale, at least never to Z'lag's knowledge.

The last person suicidal enough to attack the Hutts en mass like this was Zim the Despot...and the whole galaxy remembered just how badly that went for him.

He stared towards the devasted palace and then back at the enraged Chevin. Pity, that was all he felt, pity for Trade Federation and the hell that would be unleashed because of this.

The Chevin growled dangerously, "This is war."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Screams echoed through the Ark Angel 3, Aphra sighed, "The smell is never coming out is it?" she lamented quietly to herself as she passed by the small part of her ship that Triple Zero had claimed for his _debriefing_ of Jabba the Hutt.

The last time she'd looked in on the Protocol droid he'd handed her a datapad filled with the assets and bank accounts he'd managed to pull from the Hutt and now belonged to Vader.

Unfortunately, the pad had come with the smell of slime and other body fluids that come from the Hutt. Apparently Hutts smelled worse on the inside than the out as well...who knew?

And the smell was spreading.

She foresaw a major airing at the next port they visited.

She nodded, _have to remember to bribe the dock hands extra for that._

She shook her head, collecting herself, _okay, money, no longer an issue. We're rolling in the credits now. What next in the maddeningly vague plan of Vader's?_

She sighed again, _at least it's fun_. She repeated to herself. Those words were fast becoming a reassuring mantra.

She continued walking down the corridor heading towards Vader's sanctum; formerly _her_ sanctum.

She knocked on the door and entered, as usual she found Vader sitting at her desk. Though it was a lot more messier than she liked, datapads strewn all over the desk.

She gingerly passed the datapad to Vader, holding it between thumb and forefinger.

"It's all good news, mission accomplished." Aphra reported with a smile.

"Excellent, go I will summon you when I need you." Vader dismissed her, taking the datapad adding it the piles in front of him.

"Sure, ok, don't tell me what our next step is."

Vader ignored her as he went back to the report he had been reading, paying her no more attention.

"Fine, I'll just go and force Triple Zero to clean up his mess." she said with a sigh.

She left the Dark Lord alone with his thoughts.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

 _Stage one complete_

Vader smiled as he went through Triple Zero's report. The initial funds transfer and hiding of the credits were ongoing now, thanks to Bee tee and Triple Zero. The efficient droids was going out of their way to hide the final accounts but the _hidden_ path most definitely passed though major Trade Federation interests by way of the Banking Guild.

And as an extra bonus, a certain banker would be implicated as well.

Vader mentally went over his list.

 _Dooku_

He will be the first to pay for all he's done. And will do.

Vader smiled evilly behind his mask.

 _On to Stage two...Geonosis._

He'd always hated that planet. Too much sand, and much too like Tatooine for his liking, but this time he had a feeling he would enjoy this visit there.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxooxoxoxoxoox

On Geonosis, plans continued to unfold unaware of the turmoil that had been born on Tatooine or Vader's further machinations. Deep within Archduke Poggle the Lesser's fortress, in an opulent office, a holopad flickered to life and Darth Sidious, shrouded as usual appeared before Count Dooku.

The Count knelt and bowed his head in submission to his master.

"The assassins have failed, master." Dooku reported simply. "Senator Amidala still lives and will appear before the Senate."

"Rise my friend, it is of no consequence, they have served their purpose," Sidious nodded sagely.

Dooku rose and frowned, his mind going through the possible ramifications of a failed assassination attempt on the senator, "You did not want her dead?"

"Not yet, she still has a part to play," retorted Sidious.

"But Master-"

Sidious waved away the comment before Dooku could finish.

"It matters not now. Remain on Geonosis and prepare. War is coming." Sidious proclaimed gleefully.

Dooku bowed his head, "Yes, my master."

 **Author's Notes:** Vader's plan is coming together, lots of ripples in the making :);)As always, don't forget to review! :D


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